The new ruler of Syria promotes his friends to generals. According to him, the elections will wait a few years

He promoted seven people to the rank of general and another forty to the rank of colonel. Uighurs and Turks are among them.

Syria, except for the northeast controlled by the Kurds, is still ruled by a provisional government. The elections are not to be held until four years from now, Shara said in an interview for Saudi Al-Arabiya television. The reason, according to him, is that the arrangement requires a detailed population census to be carried out first. In just one year, Syrians should feel a significant improvement in the functioning of public services.

He did not explain why it should take three years to write the constitution. He rejected the criticism that the current government consists only of people connected to HTS: “The current occupation of posts was important for this time. The intention is not to exclude anyone.”

Two new major generals hold the positions of interim minister of defense and chief of the general staff, the analytical group Critical Threats pointed out. Even five brigadier generals are associated with the Hayát Tahrír al-Sham group. One of them is the commander of the HTS military wing, who founded a military academy that trained HTS fighters in modern warfare.

But there are also more controversial figures among them, especially Abu Muhammad Turkistan, who commands the forces of the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) in Syria, which is a well-organized terrorist group, a part of al-Qaeda formed by Uyghur fighters. It pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda in 2016. China calls this organization a terrorist and a “mortal danger” to its interests. Two more Uighurs were promoted to colonels.

After the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, TIP released a video where it says that after the liberation of Syria it will defeat the Chinese in Xinjiang province: “Now here in all the cities in Syria we are fighting for Allah and we will continue to do so in our Urumqi, Aksa and Kashgar.” Cities mentioned they are in Uyghur Xinjiang. To make his intentions clear, according to The Telegraph, the video ends with the words: “We will expel the Chinese infidels.” Allah gave us victory here. Maybe he will give them to us in our country as well.”

The Turk Omar Mohammad Ciftci, who commanded his brigade and led the staff that directed the overthrow of Bashar Assad, also became a general. This is further evidence of Turkey’s involvement in the coup in Syria. Abdal Rahmán Khatib, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, whom the Jordanian media describes as a Salafist jihadist, was also promoted.

Šara not only proceeds like most leaders who overthrew a regime, but surrounds himself with his faithful members of the armed forces. It also helps to legalize terrorists. The foundation of HTS is Al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch, the terrorist al-Nusra Front. Šara repeatedly says that he has severed ties with Al-Qaeda. The promotion of another commander of the al-Nusra Front, who is leading the fight in Eastern Ghouta, shows that he has not parted ways with his former comrades.

But he is not yet creating a cult of personality, he rejected the title of liberator: “I do not consider myself a liberator.” According to him, the country was liberated by the Syrians themselves.

Shara does not control the entire country, its northeast is controlled by the Kurds, who continue to clash with the Syrian National Army, a Turkish-backed and controlled militia.